Aviaries
by Florencia7
Summary: Elizabeth receives a baffling letter from Jack... Is it possible that Captain Jack Sparrow is really in need of rescue?... Sparrabeth. Post AWE. Three-shot.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi! :) This is a very short story that I've written for potcfest challenge on LiveJournal for the prompt: _Jack/Elizabeth - Elizabeth has to rescue Jack from Mistress Ching_. It will have 3 chapters in total:)

Disclaimer: PotC belong to Disney.

**Aviaries**

**Chapter 1**

"Captain Swann, should we wait here?"

There was no answer, and he did not really expect there to be one. He had already asked the captain several questions, and she had answered none; her eyes fixed on the horizon, hands gripping the rail until her knuckles went white, and he was not sure if she was angry or nervous or... both.

"Wait where?"

Tai Huang jumped at the sharp tone of Elizabeth's voice, when she suddenly spun around to face him.

"On the ship," he said cautiously. "If we're not stopping for long, and we're to set sail again soon..." he trailed off, studying the Pirate King's face intently.

During the last six months under her command he had learned a few things about the woman's temper, one of them being that she did not appreciate being asked obvious questions, was not likely to give obvious answers, and did not consider anything obvious – apart from following her orders, of course. And whatever doubts any of the crew members could have had concerning her being their captain was gone as soon as she had come aboard the _Empress _a week after having been voted the King, and with a frown and lightnings in her eyes had told them that if she would ever _hear_ them _think_ the word mutiny, they would not see the next breaking of the day, because their necks would have been already broken. With that, she had gone below deck, leaving the crew with rather stunned looks on their faces.

"Be prepared to set sail tonight," said Elizabeth after a moment of consideration, watching the gangplank being lowered, connecting the deck of her ship with the docks of Shipwreck Cove. She had not been there since the dawn before the war...

So many places she had ever been only once to...

She clenched the rumpled piece of paper in her hand, heading for the darkened town, and thinking that perhaps she should not have come here at all.

She had just recently started to feel truly better, started remembering how it had felt to wake up every morning with hope in her heart, with joy that there was a new day to be lived... And then, exactly on the first day when she had told herself that it was the time to leave the past behind, take a deep breath, move on and not waste the next nine years and six months only on waiting... exactly on that day, thanks to some devilish irony that always managed to slide into her life somehow – _that _letter had reached her:

"_Your Dearest Majesty,"_

Of course he had to mock her, even though her title was the result of his own duplicitous schemes!...

Elizabeth walked across the dark streets, one hand on her pistol, the other still gripping the letter. She had memorized it involuntarily, and she was not even sure how could she memorize it so well? It must have been that infuriating style of his that stuck in her mind, for no reason whatsoever.

"_I hope this letter finds you well, or at least well enough to read it."_

Oh, how thoughtful, indeed!

"_I wouldn't dare to intercede with your royal duties if it was not for the absolutely unfair coincidence of circumstances which led me to the highly unenviable and rather lethal..."_

He knew 'lethal' would get to her!...

"_...position I'm currently in, with little hope of changing it without your almighty assistance."_

Now. _That _was suspicious. In the second sentence he was already asking for her help. And quite straightforwardly too, which could only mean a trick behind every word, and she just wished she could read his words - read _him _better.

"_If you could maneuver your bonnie boat..."_

He did not really think she would find his choice of words flattering, did he?

"_...toward Shipwreck Cove, it would be certainly appreciated..."_

And he could at least have the decency to stop _there_.

"_...and the rewards would definitely follow."_

Elizabeth gritted her teeth, turning into a small alleyway. She followed the directions provided by him in his letter, even though she did not really know where she was going and what was the exact nature of the predicament he was in.

"_The sooner, the better, although I have every intention of being patient if you need to pillage or plunder..."_

_Yo ho_, she muttered irritatedly.

"_...this or that on your way here."_

The word 'here' was written over another word (or two words), that he had apparently decided to replace.

"_Fair winds and all that."_

She snorted.

"_Don't lose the map."_

As if _she_ was the one losing things all the time!...

"_It took me half a night to draw."_

As if she bloody cared!...

"_Captain JS"_

"Obviously!" she muttered under her breath, huffing in annoyance, her hand still holding the letter... subconsciously holding... on to it.

* * *

Jack sat on the floor in a small room, his head resting against the wall, his hat sliding over his closed eyes.

Another dusk, another evening, and there was still no sight of her. Perhaps she decided to ignore his letter, ignore _him_, or perhaps she never got the letter in the first place...

Not that it was the best letter he had ever written, he smirked to himself. Initially, he had wanted to write something entirely different, something that would make her eyes look like two pieces of Aztec gold – round and shining. But then he had thought better of it, and ended up writing a simple note. It was better to keep everything simple, at least as long as it was possible...

But the more he waited the more he was not sure whether it was a good idea to write to her at all.

He did not know whether his entire _idea _was a good idea.

Why should she come, after all? Maybe she was busy learning how to steer her exotic boat. Maybe she was busy searching for treasures, attacking other ships... He had heard at least one story of the _Empress _plundering a much bigger ship and sinking it after sending its crew floating away in a dinghy.

He wondered what the captain of that vessel had the misfortune to say to anger the King so much.

A soft knocking caught his attention, and he pushed his hat off his eyes, and listened. The series of sounds was repeated twice, and Jack grinned to himself, staggering to his feet, and noiselessly making his way to the window. He sat beside it, catching a glimpse of the street, and a glimpse of the moon, pale against the dark grey sky. The sill was almost on the level of his head when he sat down on the floor, and from his barred window he could see several paper lanterns surrounding the house like colorful birds, glowing in the darkness and casting shadows on the ground.

"Jack?"

He leaned his head against the wall, tilting it slightly to the side, for a moment letting her voice wash over him like a wave of fresh, rejuvenating water. The room grew darker with every moment, and so did the world outside, and it mildly surprised him that her voice brightened his thoughts a bit more than he had expected it to.

"Who's there?" he forced his tone to sound both disinterested and suspicious.

Elizabeth stood under the small window in the secluded street looking up at the bars glittering in the faint moonlight. She smiled involuntarily at the sound of his voice, but quickly turned her smile into a frown, trying to focus on finding something that could help her climb up toward him.

"And who do you think it is?" she snapped in a low voice, looking around in search of something to step on and lift herself, but apart from the nearby tree that looked rather fragile, and several wooden boxes, most of them broken, there was nothing she could find useful."Who do you think would be stupid enough to come to your rescue after receiving such a vainglorious letter?"

"You're not talking about my humble note, are you, Lizzie?"

Jack's voice flew to her from above, and Elizabeth bit her lip, taken aback by the strange sensation caused by hearing that version of her name spoken by him again.

"No, I'm talking about your pathetic letter arrogantly requiring my help," she answered through her gritted teeth, dragging one of the boxes closer to the wall.

Jack lifted his head, catching the sight of her head, her gold hair tied with a black ribbon, falling over one of her shoulders. He quickly lowered himself before she noticed that he was able to see her from where he was.

"If I knew you'd exhibit such a blatant lack of appreciation for my epistolary skills, I'd have rather sent it to somebody else," he said back, in a hurt tone of voice.

Elizabeth looked up, almost seeing him pout in her mind's eyes, and allowing herself a small smile at the image.

"Speaking of that," Elizabeth bent down and picked the second box, putting it over the first one with a sigh. The boxes were empty, and cracked in many places, but they were heavy nonetheless. "Where is Mr. Gibbs? Why can't he help you?"

Jack wrinkled his forehead. He had forgotten to think about that. "He is..." he started, squinting into the dark room, "he stayed in one of the ports we stopped to get supplies a couple of months ago. He met a lass that actually believes all the stories he tells," he said, relaxing a bit, content with his explanation.

"Mr. Gibbs got married?" asked Elizabeth curiously, stopping what she was doing and staring up at the window for a moment.

Jack looked right and left, taking his hat of his head, and spinning it around his finger. "You're not paying attention, 'Lizbeth. I said he _met _a lass, not _he decided to ruin his life_."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry for assuming something so dreadfully honest," she whispered irritatedly, going back to the task of making a small platform from the boxes.

"Honest? How is it honest to-" Jack trailed off and Elizabeth stilled her movements, hands on the third box, eyes fixed on the wooden surface. She waited for him to continue, but he did not. "What is this noise you're making, luv?" he asked after a pause even though she was perfectly still at the moment.

"Well, I'm sorry for not rescuing you in perfect silence!" Elizabeth pressed the third box to the wall with a rather loud thud.

"First of all, the only reason for my concern is your safety, luv. Secondly..." he lingered at the word, and Elizabeth glanced up suspiciously. "I do appreciate you learning new words, new... phrases."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the dark window, trying to understand what he had meant.

"_I'm sorry..."  
_

She closed her eyes and bit her lip.

"Lizzie?" He decided to call after a strangely long moment of silence that followed his last sentence. Carefully, he pulled himself upwards keeping near to the wall, and looking down through the bars in the window.

Elizabeth stood with her hands resting on the top of the clumsy staircase she had built, her eyes fixed on the ground, hair fluttering in the mild, evening wind. He could not see her face, only her silhouette and her hair gold against the night. And suddenly he stopped wondering whether it was a good idea to write to her. She had come.

"Lizzie?"

She listened to his voice absent-mindedly, her thoughts miles away, the events from the past replaying themselves in her mind, rain and tears, broken teacups, broken promises, broken future...

"What about your crew?" she asked, all of a sudden, looking up, and Jack drew back from the window abruptly, hitting his head against a nearby chair.

"Oi," he rubbed the back of his head with a grimace.

"Jack?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, looking between the wooden boxes and the window, measuring the distance.

"Gone," he called in a pained voice.

"Dead?" asked Elizabeth uncertainly, trying to imagine what could have possibly-

"Luv, you must stop interpreting me every word in such a dramatic way," Jack's voice returned to normal, as he resumed his position by the window. "I said _gone_, not-"

"Gone where?" Elizabeth gripped one of the tree branches, and cautiously stepped on first of the three wooden boxes.

"To the Fountain of Youth," answered Jack with the nonchalance that could only indicate that there was something more behind his words. "Although their chances for finding it are rather slim, seeing that they don't have-"

"And the _Black Pearl_?" Elizabeth interrupted him, remembering that she had not seen the _Black Pearl_ docked when she had arrived.

Jack smiled faintly to himself at the hint of trepidation in her voice. Worrying about the _Black Pearl_ was as good as worrying about him. Or even better. "Barbossa," he replied gloomily after a pause, and he half-expected to hear her laugh, or at least snort.

But the world outside his room was silent.

"He stole the _Pearl _again?" Elizabeth asked incredulously, and it struck Jack that her voice seemed to be so very close to him...

"Aye," muttered Jack, putting his hat back on his head, and staring out into the murky room. "But I'm getting her back. As soon as I-"

"As soon as _I_, you mean", said Elizabeth, and Jack's eyes flew wide open when his hat was suddenly taken off his head. "As soon as I will get you out of here."

He turned his head abruptly, widening his eyes at Elizabeth who somehow appeared on the other side of the window, one hand holding on to the bars, the other waving his hat in front of his face.

He had not seen her in six months, and yet it felt as if it was only yesterday that she had disappeared into the longboat, and he had stormed off to his cabin, the kiss he had refused her burning his lips for the next several days... weeks... months...

"Now. If you could tell me what you're doing here," she said, with a small, playful smile, sliding his hat through the bars, and putting it on her head. "What did you get yourself into? Whose house is this?"

She could not really understand why and how he could be kept locked up in some place in Shipwreck Cove. Why had he written to her? Surely he had known enough people here to ask somebody else to help him, and yet he had written to her...

Jack scooted in front of the window, and sat in front of her, extending his hand to grab his hat, but Elizabeth caught his hand. Their eyes locked, and her smile faded at the intensity of his gaze. Hurriedly, she looked away, trying to draw back her hand, but this time he had caught it, and pulled it through the bars until her hand rested in his on the cool window sill.

"So many questions. I think I'd need some encouragement to answer them all," he said with a trace of a mischievous smile flickering across his lips, his thumb brushing across her palm.

Elizabeth stared at him, thinking about looking away, and at the same time wishing that the time would stop for a moment, and she could just stay like that, one foot on the wooden platform made out of boxes, the other on the tree branch, her hand in his, and his eyes looking through her, reminding her of the times when she had not even known him yet, about the times when everything was clearly divided into light and darkness, when she had not hesitated what to do, because there was only one path to follow – follow, not even choose.

"If anybody, it is you who should... encourage me to help you," she said, not averting her eyes, and returning his gaze unblinkingly, wondering if he was not using that certain word that belonged to their past on purpose, or whether he was merely challenging her to use it first. If he was, she was not going to let him win that easily.

He flashed her a small, roguish smile, and she regretted what she had said immediately.

"As the King commands," he said tightening his hold on her hand, his other hand sliding through the bars and into her hair, pushing her head toward his...

There was a strange, creaking sound that Jack ignored, by then Elizabeth screamed and his eyes instead of closing, flew wide open, and he caught her other hand on an impulse, a moment before she lost her footing, the branch breaking under one of her feet, and the boxes which she had accidentally kicked with her foot while trying to keep herself from falling, shattered to the ground.

"I got you," whispered Jack reassuringly, keeping her hands in his through the bars, while she was hanging rather grotesquely above the ground. "No matter how it starts, in the end it's always me rescuing you, eh?" he smiled at her, but Elizabeth did not return his smile.

"I don't feel very rescued at the moment," she said through her clenched teeth, glancing over her shoulder to see if she was not too high to risk letting go of Jack's hands, and simply fall down.

Jack was about to answer when a sudden movement at the end of the road caught his attention and his brows furrowed at the sight of several people approaching, talking and singing in loud, drunken voices.

"You didn't come alone, did you?" he asked in a low voice, and Elizabeth shifted her eyes to him.

"No, of course not. I dragged my entire crew along. They're hiding behind that tree, watching me hanging here," she hissed irritatedly.

"Thought as much," muttered Jack with a frown, wrinkling his forehead.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! :)

Disclaimer: PotC belong to Disney.

**Chapter 2**

"Let go of me, Jack," whispered Elizabeth, glancing at the ground over her shoulder. "I have a sword and a pistol, not to mention that they're probably to drunk to even notice me. I don't know why you assume that they're going to attack me!" she hissed irritatedly, looking back at him.

"I don't question your self-defence skills, Lizzie," answered Jack's eyeing warily the bars in his window, the voices of the approaching group growing louder. "But you should return the favor and not question my knowledge concerning this place," he said, locking his eyes with hers. "And its inhabitants."

She stared up at him for a moment in silence, something in his eyes sending her back onto the cliff in Port Royal, and she felt as if she was going to fall again, a strange sense of panic washing over her at the idea that this time he would not be there to catch her.

And she wondered if he would have caught her back then at all if he had known what role she would have played in his future...

"I will let go of one of your hands right now," his voice shook her out of her reverie, and she blinked trying to focus on what he was saying. "But I won't let go of the other. Savvy?" he looked her straight in the eye, and she hoped that it was only the evening wind that sent those shivers up her spine. Never mind the fact that the wind was cold, while the shivers were burning hot.

She nodded wondering what he had in mind, her thoughts drifting away once again, despite the predicament she was in. She should not have come here at all. Why had he written that letter to her? Why could he not have just left her in peace, let her be? She had been so close to forgetting, so close to being true to her better judgement instead of those flaring emotions tugging on her imagination, invading her dreams every time she had just tried to fall asleep listening to the steady rhythm of her husband's beating heart...

Despite Jack's fair warning, Elizabeth gasped when he let go of one of her hands, his free hand reaching down to her, reaching... under her shirt?!

"Are you mad?!" she exclaimed in a decidedly too loud tone of voice, hearing a series of whistling sounds in return. She stiffened at the noise of stumbling footsteps, not even bothering to look over her shoulder.

Jack pulled her pistol out of her belt (_oh_, she thought, blushing at her ridiculous assumptions), and swinging her with his other hand further away from the window fired, one of the window's bars springing free, and falling to the ground.

She did not even have the time to acknowledge what he was doing when she felt something closing around her ankle. A hand, most likely... A _hand_?! "Jack!" she screamed feeling somebody pulling on her leg, her voice betraying much more fear than she would wish to reveal to anybody, especially to him.

Another fire shot resounded in the air, and then she was pulled upwards with both of his hands, as he hoisted her over the window frame, pulling her into the room through the only two remaining bars.

She fell to the floor with a thud, while Jack quickly checked how many bullets he had left, and then fired again, apparently not missing his target, for she heard a moan of pain followed by a series of curses coming from the road outside.

Jack stood by the window, pistol drawn as he waited for the group to stumble away, their swaggering steps reverberating in the quiescence of the night, voices growing more and more distant until all she could hear was the humming of the waves in the distance.

"There," Jack turned away from the window with a sigh, his eyes locking with hers.

Elizabeth sat on the floor, his hat on her head, her eyes returning his gaze unblinkingly. She found herself entranced by his figure looming above her in the faint moonlight, everything dark about him except for the glint of gold when he opened his mouth to speak, and she suddenly remembered that right in this moment he had looked exactly like she had always imagined him to be; he had looked like the pirate from her books, the pirate whose grand adventures she had been absorbing so greedily, wishing to be a part of them, mostly because she had been certain she could have proved to him that she would have made _at least _as fearsome pirate as him.

"Thank you," she whispered in a hollow voice, shuddering inwardly at how similar her voice had sounded, so dreadfully similar to when-

"It's my pleasure to be of some service to the King," he said with a smirk, helping her to stand up, and returning her pistol to her.

She closed her fingers around the barrel, their hands brushing against each other's as she slowly put her pistol back in its place.

"Although..." She darted her eyes to him, catching a ghost of a smile flickering across his face before it quickly faded into the semi-darkness around them. "Last time you thanked me with a kiss," he said, and she stared at him, rather stunned by the natural, almost playful way in which he had said it.

"I don't think you'd like to repeat that scenario," she answered somberly in a hollow voice, feeling her heartbeat quicken rather unnecessarily.

"Well..." To her dismay, he swaggered closer, and she subconsciously stepped backwards until her back hit the wall. "Not _all_ of it, true" he said giving her his lop-sided smile, and to her further stupefaction raising his hand to her face, taking his hat off her head, and putting it back on his head. "But I have nothing against repeating the first part," he added, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Elizabeth stared at him frozen to the spot. She had known she should not have come here precisely because she had known that he would have started playing those ridiculous games of his with her, and she was neither willing, nor merely going to let him pull her into his mischievous practices which could only strengthen her sense of guilt, putting yet more weight on her shoulders. Will was sailing the dark waters ferrying the souls to the other side under the grim, sunless skies, and it would have just felt wrong to allow herself that kind of carefree playfulness while his days were so hopelessly dark... were going to be so hopelessly dark for so many more years to come...

But at least that was something she was prepared for: Jack being... well, _Jack_, trying to best her and her emotions, or at least pretending to wish for her surrender, while in the reality not caring whether she would give in or not, for all their banters meant to him as much as any of the similar ones he must have had in his life.

What she had not expected, however, were his straightforward advances, serious or not. She could not kiss him. She could not let him kiss her. Kissing was serious. Kissing was-

His hand on her cheek brought her back to the reality, and she quickly tried to regain her composure and scold him for even-

But his lips touched hers ever so softly, that soon she found herself rather disappointed by the briefness and gentleness of the kiss, than upset that he had kissed her at all.

"You shouldn't have," she whispered, avoiding looking into his eyes, her eyes fixed on his lips, the mistake she would not have made, had she known how he was going to interpret it.

Because then his lips were on hers again, rough and warm, and with a sense of helplessness crawling over her, she brought her hands to his shoulders, leaning into him, returning the kiss with nervous excitement, finding it impossible to remember the last time when she had felt so light, so unafraid, so free...

It was nothing serious, after all, was it? It was just a kiss, just a kiss, nothing more.

His arms closed around her, and he pulled her closer, breaking the kiss for a moment long enough to allow her and himself a sharp intake of breath, and then he wanted to kiss her again, but she placed a trembling hand over his mouth and shook her head.

"Jack, please..." she said in an unnecessarily pleading voice, meeting his gaze when he slowly opened his eyes.

"I missed that," he whispered, brushing the backs of his fingers across her cheek, a small smile playing about his lips, and she glanced at them wondering whether it would be very wrong to kiss him just one more time... Something in the way his lips fit against hers made her feel more jubilant than she had ever felt in the last several months, and she just wanted to feel like that again, for a little while...

"You missed what?" she asked uncertainly, her heart hammering in her chest, the beating sound in her ears reminding her of the chest... of the first month when she had kept the chest aboard the _Empress _until she had decided to bury it on land, not wishing to risk it sink to the bottom of the ocean or end up as a part of somebody's plunder.

"You disagreeing with me," he said, but something in his eyes was telling her that he had not said exactly what he had had in mind before.

"What about..." she started before she could stop herself. His hand slid softly from her cheek and onto her shoulder, and it crossed her mind that it was precisely the gesture she had often missed while standing at the helm of her ship – somebody coming up to her and placing his hand on her shoulder... "What about you telling me what's going on and what you're doing here, and then-" she drew a shaky breath, trying to focus on his eyes instead of his lips curling up into a smirk. "And then I will- _maybe _I will let you kiss me... one more time," she added, the idea suddenly seeming so ridiculous to her, and not simply amusing as she had thought about it just a moment ago.

She felt his hands slowly ran up her back and then she suddenly remembered that he still held her in his embrace while she had not even tried to step away from him.

Maybe it was simply because it felt soothing to be held like that, to have somebody who cared... whom _she _wanted to care about her to hold her...

She scolded herself inwardly for the direction her thoughts were taking. Why the fact that he had kissed her and held her in his arms should mean that he cared? He had had _proposed _to her before too, and it was not like he had meant to marry her.

"Fair deal, Lizzie," said Jack, smiling at her, the wind coming from the window causing the trinkets in his hair to jingle quietly, her eyes flickering to the window-

"Jack, we can just escape through the window!" she exclaimed, stunned by her own thoughtlessness, and quickly lowering her voice. "Why are we even still standing here?!" she rushed to the window, but Jack caught her wrist, and tugged her back toward him.

"No, we can't. I mean... you can, but I can't," he said with a twitch of his nose, frowning at the window.

Elizabeth looked at him incredulously. "Why not?!"

"They'd notice my... disappearance, and I'd prefer to settle the matter rather than run away from settling it," he answered, wrinkling his forehead, and forcing not quite genuine a smile to appear on his face.

Elizabeth blinked, taken aback by his unwillingness to escape. Was it not what he was always doing? Escaping? No matter the circumstances? Miraculously _always _managing to escape?

"I don't understand," she shook her head, looking at him warily, noticing the shadows under his eyes, shadows marking the number of nights he had not slept through.

"Well, let's say I own a bit of a shiny to somebody who is quite determined to get either back said amount of shiny multiplied, or..." he winced, but Elizabeth just waited calmly for him to continue, even though her patience was decreasing with every second. "Or slice me into a collection of souvenirs," he concluded with a small pout.

"What is it exactly that you want me to do?" she asked sharply, her eyes boring into his expectantly.

Jack gave her a cautious smile. "I told you what's going on. How about that promised kiss before I continue?"

Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest, and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Unless you want to wait until I tell you everything..." he added, still looking at her hopefully, but seeing her only glare at him in response, he cleared his throat, and continued his story.

* * *

"And?" Pintel elbowed Ragetti who cautiously peered into one of the taverns, warily scanning the room.

"Can't see 'er," said Ragetti with a shrug.

"Good," Pintel nodded with a frown. "Why should she be here anyway?" he asked, pushing Ragetti inside, and walking in after him.

"That's not the point," objected Ragetti hesitatingly. "I think the point was that we shouldn't be leavin' the ship at all until-"

"The point was not t' be seen!" Pintel cut him off, pushing him toward one of the tables. "An' I'm tired of-" he trailed off, and Ragetti looked at him questioningly, but instead of continuing, Pintel grabbed his arm, and began dragging him toward a side door.

* * *

"Bloody, despicable, wretched-" Elizabeth pushed the door to the tavern open, and stepped inside, grimacing and coughing at the thick smoke hanging in the air. She took a deep breath, but it only made her cough more.

She should not have come. She should not have come! She had _known _she should not have come! Just to think that the only reason that he had written to her was to have _her_ pay _his _debt!

Elizabeth scanned the room in search of Mistress Ching who was supposed to be there.

"Pirate!" she finished out loud her former train of thought, huffing in annoyance. She straightened up noticing the Pirate Lord she was searching for sitting in the further part of the room. She was about to head toward her when something else caught her attention...

Her eyes locked with Pintel's for a moment, before the pirate grabbed his inseparable friend, and began dragging him hastily toward the door, apparently distressed by her appearance.

Elizabeth blinked in confusion, wondering what they were doing here? Had Barbossa left them behind when he had stolen the _Black Pearl_? Had they left the _Pearl _on their own accord? Was it possible that Barbossa was now in Shipwreck Cove _with _the _Pearl_?

Million thoughts rushed through her head, and she quickly decided to find out the answers to those question first, and then come back to talk with Mistress Ching. It would not hurt to make Jack wait a bit longer. In fact, she should rather pay Mistress Ching to keep him, and chop him into pieces as she had allegedly threatened to do. She would just ask her to send her his dreadlocks so she could make a broom out of them.

Muttering under her breath, Elizabeth ran after Pintel and Ragetti regretting that she had not let Tai Huang accompany her, after all. She was not entirely sure that the Pirate King should be chasing some lousy pirates across the town. She should just order them to stop, and they should stop!

"Stop!" she shouted, but they kept on running, so she pulled out her pistol and shot into the air, startling them, and causing Pintel to trip, face down into the mud.

She smiled triumphantly, and quickly reached them, gasping for air.

"You move, you die!" she said pointing her gun at Pintel, and her sword at Ragetti, even though he had already had his hands up in the air. She had recently read that phrase somewhere, and always wanted to use it.

Pintel scrambled to his feet and lifted his hands as well.

"Is the _Black Pearl _here?" asked Elizabeth, cocking her pistol to add some importance to her question.

Pintel and Ragetti exchanged miserable looks, and reluctantly nodded their heads in unison.

Elizabeth exhaled, a familiar sense of excitement building up in her chest. It would be quite amusing to retrieve the _Pearl_ from Barbossa and inform Jack that the _Pearl_ was now hers, and if he wanted to get her back, he would have to... well, she was not sure what she would ask him to do, but it would certainly be something painful! She could make him swear that he would not drink any rum for the next several months, for example. She smirked inwardly at the idea.

"Where is Barbossa?" she asked sharply, shifting her narrowed eyes between Pintel and Ragetti who began looking very uncomfortable. "Where is Barbossa?" she repeated in an angrier tone of voice, causing them both to cringe.

Ragetti glanced at Pintel in search of assistance, but Pintel's eyes were fixed on Elizabeth, a look of annoyance on his face. "Fine," he hissed through his gritted teeth. "And it's yer fault anyway!" he said, shooting Ragetti an angry look. "I said we shouldn't be leavin' the ship-"

"Where is Barbossa?" Elizabeth interrupted him, stepping closer, her pistol almost touching Pintel's forehead.

"Marooned," whispered Ragetti resignedly.

Elizabeth blinked. "Marooned? By whom?" she asked disbelievingly, wondering whether it was possible that Jack's crew proved as loyal as to maroon Barbossa, and sail back to return the ship to its rightful captain.

But Ragetti's answer put an end to her suppositions, confusing her even more.

"By Captain Sparrow," said Ragetti in a low voice, while Pintel glared at the pistol that was still aimed at him.

Elizabeth stared at Ragetti in stupefaction.

Now she really did not understand what was going on.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you so much for all the amazing reviews! :)

Disclaimer: Jack, Elizabeth, etc. belong to Disney.

**Chapter 3**

Slowly, Elizabeth made her way back to the tavern, her mind racing, irritation and bewilderment plaited in her every thought, as she tried to make a coherent picture out of the chaotic collection of all those strange pieces of information that she had.

The _Black Pearl_ was anchored on the other side of the island, in a small bay that not everybody in Shipwreck Cove even knew about. She had been stolen by Barbossa soon after they had defeated Beckett and Jones, soon after... soon after her and Jack's paths had gone into different directions... That part of Jack's story was true. Barbossa had taken the ship as well as the map, setting out to find Aqua de Vida. Unfortunately, the map he had stolen turned out to be incomplete...

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the memory of Pintel and Ragetti telling her about it with utmost amusement. She could not understand how the minds of those two worked. They had not even seemed bothered by the fact that they had taken part in – almost – a mutiny against Jack again, only to join his crew once more when the ship had fallen back under his command.

The next bit of the story was rather amusing, and Elizabeth had found herself smiling inwardly when she had heard that three months after losing the _Pearl_, Jack had miraculously caught up with his ship, and one day was spotted sitting in the crow's nest, bottle of rum in his hand and a smile on his face. Ragetti had said that Barbossa had not even wanted to believe that he was there until he had seen him, and until Jack had pulled out his pistol, and unceremoniously fired, granting Barbossa a bullet in his right foot. Later, Barbossa had been marooned on an island with a pistol, one bullet, and one apple.

Elizabeth was not sure whether the crew had been tired of Barbossa and genuinely realized that they preferred Jack as their captain, or whether they had supported Jack simply because he had the map to the Fountain if Youth.

Either way, Jack was in charge of his ship once again, and for the hundredth time Elizabeth wondered why he wanted her to believe otherwise...

She also learnt that the _Black Pearl_ had been damaged in the battle in which they had got involved on their way to Aqua de Vida quite accidentally, trying to aid a small merchant vessel that had been attacked by another pirate ship.

That was also an interesting part of the story. Since when pirates were helping merchants defeat their ships from other pirates?! Elizabeth made a mental note to confront Jack about it.

Even though she felt less and less inclined to confront him about anything, and more and more tempted to come back to the _Empress _and sail away without even giving him a word of explanation.

He had lied to her. Again. She was already angry when he had told her that he wanted her to settle his debt, that the only reason behind his letter was to make her pay Mistress Ching for releasing him, using _her _hard-obtained, _earned _money and treasure to regain his freedom.

Yet, she still did not really know what to think about his letter. Perhaps he thought that making her believe that the _Pearl_ was gone would make her pity him more? Maybe he wanted to ensure her compassion? Did he think that she needed to pity him to help him? Why could not he just write her the truth? She would have come. If he had simply explained his situation to her. She would have come. She would have...

Elizabeth entered the tavern, taking a wary look around.

Would she?...

She tried to analyze her emotions and decide why she had come in the first place. Had she come because he needed help? Had she come because she suspected that he might have been in danger? Had she come because he had asked her to come?

Or... or had she come because she was in need of a pretext to come... and whatever would have been in his letter she would have come...

"Captain Swann, the Pirate King, and yet a rare sight in Shipwreck Cove. "

Mistress Ching's voice shook Elizabeth off her reverie, and she suddenly noticed she was standing in front of the woman whose eyes were piercing through her with dangerous curiosity. Strange as it was, Elizabeth had always had an impression, that out of all the Pirate Lords, Mistress Ching was most displeased with her being voted the Pirate King.

"Makes a poor king the one whose only aim is to be seen," said Elizabeth, putting her pistol on the table, and sitting down. Mistress Ching's eyes shifted from Elizabeth's face to the weapon, and then to Elizabeth's face again.

"It's not one's face but intentions that should be kept hidden," retorted Mistress Ching dryly.

Elizabeth's regarded her with narrowed eyes, and forced a small smile. "Only vicious intentions need to be kept secret," she said, glancing at the two men that also sat at the table. "I see no reason to keep the truth hidden if the intentions are pure."

Mistress Ching gave her a wry smile, her eyes lightened with false amusement. "No intentions are pure, Captain Swann. It's either your naivety or wickedness speaking now," she said, studying Elizabeth's face intently.

"I'm afraid I find neither of those accusations offensive," said Elizabeth with a small smile.

"Then it must be both," replied Mistress Ching. "What is it that you want from me, Captain Swann?" she asked, narrowing her eyed expectantly, and Elizabeth had a strange impression that the woman already knew her purpose there.

Elizabeth took a deep breath bracing herself for what was to come. She felt oddly embarrassed by the entire situation. Of course her actions could be seen as mere act of gratitude toward Jack for voting her the King, but... but somehow she knew that people would assume that she had other reasons for helping him.

And truth to be told, she was not sure what her true reasons were...

* * *

Jack stood by the window, looking down at the empty road, his fingers tapping the window sill impatiently. Elizabeth should have been back by now, unless something happened...

Not that much could happen, seeing that everything was rather well-prepared. Unless she had just got upset (which she actually had...) and decided to sail away...

"That was rather risky, mate," muttered Jack under his breath, furrowing his brows.

But it was not like he had had a choice, had he?

Would she come if he would have written the truth?

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the original version of his letter to her...

_Lizzie darling,_

_I hope this letter finds you well, and that it finds you at all. I wish I could deliver it myself, but then I'd have to read the answer to it from your face, and that's not an easy task, and I'm afraid I couldn't afford a wrong reading of it, or finding the answer wrong..._

_No reasons in this letter, I don't have much to say as there are never words good enough to say what is worth saying. _

_Come, meet me in Shipwreck Cove, start from the point from which we should have started. It was a good moment to start... Too late to start from then again, but it's never too late to start from today – there are so many todays, Lizzie, so many days that start with the sun rising, end with the sun setting, nights when you can't see the stars, nights when you can't see anything else but stars. Come. _

_Don't lose the map. It took me half a night to draw._

_Jack_

* * *

Tai Huang leaned slightly forward, his eyes widening to the point at which they became almost perfectly round. "This is nearly all that we have," he said cautiously after a moment of silence.

Elizabeth bit her lip, trying to appear calm and certain, despite her absolute irritation. Infuriating women. Infuriating town. Infuriating _Captain _Jack Sparrow.

She was not sure whether she was more upset with Mistress Ching's unwillingness to negotiate the price or rather with her apparently deficient negotiating skills. And she suddenly remembered her first negotiating failure when she had handed the medallion to Barbossa. What had she been thinking?!

And what was she thinking now, sacrificing almost all the treasure she had gathered in the last half a year for that insufferable man.

"I know," she said confidently, steadily returning her first mate's intent, cautiously worried gaze. "But we won't be giving it away for long," she added on an impulse, forcing a smile, when she noticed a flicker of a smile crossing Tai Huang's face.

Well, it was not the wisest thing to do, but not doing it would have been infinitely more stupid.

* * *

"Tell Mistress Ching that it was a pleasure to be a guest in this fancy mansion," said Jack with a smile, following a member of Mistress Ching's crew down the corridor.

The man glanced at him, but did not say a word, and Jack twitched his nose in silent disapproval, but he was not given much time for contemplating the man's lack of manners, because soon the tall door were opened, and he was let outside.

Not without a feeling of relief he saw Elizabeth standing just a few feet away, waiting for him.

"Lizzie!" He exclaimed cheerfully, swaggering toward her with his arms wide open, but Elizabeth pursed her lips, stepping away from him.

"Don't you even dare talk to me now!" she said irritatedly, glaring at him. "Or ever."

"Liz-" he trailed off with a grimace when she raised her hand as if to slap him, but then she thought better of it, and dropped her hand with a groan, swirling around, and starting to walk away.

Jack waited with his eyes closed for the slap to come, but it never did. Instead, he suddenly heard Elizabeth scream, his eyes snapping open at the sound.

Three men appeared as if out of nowhere attacking her as she tried to fight them all at once, sword drawn, clashing of metal resounding dully in the darkness.

Pulling out his own sword, Jack ran toward the group, knocking down one of the opponents with the back of his pistol. To his surprise he noticed that the faces of the men looked oddly familiar, and he quickly recognized them as the members of Mistress Ching's crew.

"They're not supposed to be doing this," he muttered to himself with a frown, but unfortunately Elizabeth was close enough to him to hear it.

"What?!" she exclaimed, having recognized the men herself from her former meeting with Mistress Ching.

Jack winced at his loud thinking, and then the understanding dawned on Elizabeth. "You weren't kept captive by her!" she almost shouted, raising her sword to block an attack. "It was a scheme!"

Jack's sword flashed in the air, cutting his opponent on the arm. "Well, it's not anymore," he answered, avoiding looking at her.

He was suddenly not sure if he wanted the sword fight with Mistress Ching's guards to end, if it meant dealing with angry Elizabeth instead.

* * *

"I wouldn't be doing this if I were you," said Tai Huang with a small smile, the tip of his blade pressed against the neck of the man that held a sack filled with gold in his arms.

The other four members of Mistress Ching's crew were also stopped in their tracks on their way back from the _Empress_.

Tai Huang reached for the man's pistol, and cocked it, pointing it to the man's forehead. He nodded for the remaining members of Elizabeth's crew to take the sacks. Then, using the ropes taken from the ship they tied Mistress Ching's guards to the nearby trees.

"Pass the King's regards to your Mistress," said Tai Huang with a mocking bow, putting one gold coin in one of Mistress Ching's men's tied hands.

* * *

"It was a pleasure, but we really have to be going," said Jack with a brief half-smile, kicking the grains of sand from the road into his opponent's face, while Elizabeth managed to knock her opponent's sword out of his hand.

Quickly, Jack grabbed Elizabeth's hand, and they ran together toward the docks, Elizabeth being too overwhelmed by the fight to remember to snatch her hand away.

"I'm not taking you on board of my ship, so it seems to me that you should run in the opposite direction," she said breathlessly, turning her head to look at him. "Your ship is docked on the other side of the island," she added pointedly.

Jack grimaced. "Did I fail to mention that I'd gotten her back already?" he asked hopefully, tightening his grip on Elizabeth's hand.

"Oh yes, you did fail to mention quite a few things," she answered under her breath, not looking at him.

"I'm guessing that the _Pearl _being already off the Cove's welcoming shores is one of them?" he asked, risking a smile, but receiving an icy-cold look in response.

"I wish you a pleasant swim to your ship, then, Captain Sparrow," said Elizabeth freeing her hand from Jack's grip when they reached the _Empress_, Tai Huang waiting by the gangplank. He gave Elizabeth a small nod, and she responded by giving him a smile, the smile that vanished as soon as her eyes shifted back to Jack.

"Surely ye wouldn't mind taking me on board for a little while just to drop me off on my ship, luv?" asked Jack lightheartedly, narrowing his eyes.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to retort, but then Tai Huang turned her attention to the group of people running toward them. "Time to set sail," he said in a low voice.

Elizabeth bit her lip in annoyance, seeing Jack's smirk without even looking at him.

* * *

"Go away!" Elizabeth leaned against the door to her cabin, but Jack's foot was already making it impossible for her to close it.

"No," he said stubbornly, suddenly pushing the door so hard, that Elizabeth nearly fell to the floor.

"It's my cabin and I don't want you here!" she shouted, hands rolling into fists.

Jack studied her flushed face for a moment, hair in disarray, the exhaustion caused by the sword fight setting her eyes aglow. The exhaustion and anger and...

He slammed the door shut, not taking his eyes off her.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth. "You have no right!" she started for the door to open them and push him out of her cabin, but he caught her before she reached the door, and spun her around, closing her in his arms, his eyes suddenly so close to hers that she could see her own face reflected in them.

"I have a right," he said in a surprisingly low voice, and she tried to recall the last time she had seen that strangely serious, resigned expression on his face...

The rum runners' island... when he had told her the truth about his escape...

"Oh, so you do have a right to lie to me, use me to settle your fictional," she stressed the word angrily, "debts, force yourself onto my ship, break into my cabin without my permission-"

"No," he interrupted her, and she suddenly became aware of his hand on her back, his other hand sliding into her hair...

"I will-" she started threateningly, but he silenced her with a kiss before she managed to express her threat more eloquently.

She tried to push him away, punch him on the chest, but he pulled her closer, and her fists uncurled, leaving her with her hands splayed on his chest, the beating of his heart strong under her palms.

"I have a right to do what I want to do, because I want it" he whispered, breaking the kiss.

For a moment she was unable to say anything with her breath coming in short gasps. "Why?" she asked at last, opening her eyes, her lips feeling as if he was still kissing her. "Why did you do all of this? Why did you want me to come? Why... all those lies-"

"Lies?" A trace of a roguish smile flitted across his face. "There were no lies, 'Lizbeth. I did owe her money. Besides," he continued, despite Elizabeth rolling her eyes at him. "She did break the agreement by sending those rascals after us. She was supposed to just take the gold-"

"My gold!" Elizabeth widened her eyes at him in indignation.

"I had every intention of paying you back, luv. Sooner or later-" he sifted her hair through his fingers almost absently, and she felt shivers running up her spine, nervousness beginning to creep over her.

"That won't be necessary," she cut in, shifting her head to shake his hand off, but accidentally it came out more as if she was leaning into his touch. "You didn't really think I was going to lose even one coin for your sake, did you?"

Jack grinned. "Ah, all the better, then."

"Jack," she pulled away, when he inched his lips closer to hers again. "You didn't answer me. Why? Why did you do all of that?"

He looked at her for a moment in silence, as if trying to decide whether he should tell her the truth or not. "'Cause all of that was easier," he whispered at last, almost inaudibly.

Elizabeth wrinkled her forehead. "Easier than what?"

"Than this," he said after a pause, a piece of paper appearing in front of Elizabeth's face.

She looked between the paper and Jack's face before taking the letter out of his hand, and slowly unfolding it.

He made a move as if he wanted to loosen his embrace around her, but then apparently thought better of it, and tightened it slightly instead.

Elizabeth read the note, her heart sinking and fluttering with every sentence, and even when she finished reading, she still stared at the letter, stalling for time, not knowing how to look at him... what to tell him...

"You don't feel it?" he asked all of a sudden, in such a blank voice, that for a moment she thought it was just a casual question...

She looked up at him hesitatingly.

"Those... lights..." he said with a twitch of his nose.

"Lights?" she closed her fist, slightly crumbling the piece of paper in her hand, finding the strange seriousness of his abstract words alarming.

"Little sparks... they come and go... flicker..." he looked away, but then looked back at her. "When..." he brushed the backs of his fingers across her lips, and she trembled.

"I know," she said, hardly hearing her own voice. "They burst into colors, into those... small glittering pieces..." she closed her eyes, but quickly opened them again. "Jack, I can't," she shook her head, preparing herself for a sad look in his eyes, but he was... smirking.?! "Jack-"

Smirking and kissing her again; kissing her lips, her cheeks, her hair...

"I said I can't," she said with a weak hint of annoyance in her voice, tilting her head to the side when his lips descended onto her neck, trailing soft kisses across her skin. "And I don't want to," she added, trying to open her eyes. Surely if she could only open her eyes she could stop feeling all of that...

"Do you see them now?" he asked so quietly she was not sure he had said anything at all. "Lizzie?"

"Yes," she whispered before she could stop herself. "But..."

"So many colors..." his voice held a trace of such sincere fascination that she found herself fascinated as well.

"Yes... flashing..." she breathed, not really knowing what she was saying, and whether she was really seeing anything... But it ceased to matter as soon as his hands glided under her shirt, his thumbs stroking her skin while his lips followed a chart that she had not even knows was there, his every kiss more enthralling, more flaring, more freeing...

The sheets felt so cool under her bare back, the pillows so soft under her head, his hands so rough, lips so impatient, and she listened to her name that carried the meaning of hundreds of words, the calm and the storm shimmering in his voice, banishing the reality from her mind.

There would be time for the guilt and the blame, and he would have both, hear about both, she would not be left alone with them. But they were not a part of tonight, they belonged to the ghosts of the past, to the hosts of the future, not to tonight.

Tonight there were only her palms wandering blindly over his scars, her lips lost among the criss-crossing paths of his belated escapes, his lips not releasing her skin even for a moment...

He caught her gaze for a split second, a withered hand cupping her face, his lips aflame, pressing smiles to her lips a moment before the world shuddered and burst into the night, rainbows like shadows falling over them, and there was an end and a beginning in each of his kisses. He kissed her lips with defeated reverence, and she was falling into the scent of his skin, the taste of his lips, the rhythm of the sea that, she suddenly realized, was somewhere between them, _in _them, waves crashing, rain falling, life pulsating in his veins when she pressed her lips to his neck, his face buried in her hair when everything fell apart and for a moment her heart was everywhere, her eyes saw everything, and she would not have found her way back from the sparkling skies if it was not for his hands cradling her face, his arms wrapping around her, lips touching hers, as she allowed the dreams to claim her, the overwhelming feeling of freedom drifting into sleep along with her, and she knew that it was going to still be there in the morning. In tears, but there nonetheless. Shadows of regret looming over the sea, gleaming in the rays of the rising sun. But she was safe from them for now, safe from everything as long as her skin was pressed against his, as long as she could hear the beating of his heart under her fingertips, as long as she could sleep with the memory of his voice chanting her name and those several words that had the power to bind a soul to a soul forever.

**The End**


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